There is an overwhelming volume of media content that is available to the average consumer. More particularly, there are many applications that a consumer can use on a television or set-top box that allow the consumer to consume media content from various sources. For example, a consumer can select between media content that is delivered linearly from a multichannel video programming distributor, video-on-demand content that is provided by a multichannel video programming distributor, personal media content that is acquired by the consumer, recorded content that is stored on a digital video recorder or any other suitable storage device, and/or on-demand content that is provided from over-the-top providers.
As the number of sources continues to increase (e.g., additional over-the-top providers of on-demand content), media guidance becomes increasingly important. For example, the consumer can review program guide information, such as a grid guide of program listings organized by channel, prior to making a decision on which media content to view. However, television channels that are available to the consumer and their channel number allocations can vary widely throughout the country. In order to receive such media guidance, the consumer is generally required to manually input a zip code, a city, a state, and/or other location information and then select a service provider for the inputted location. This can be cumbersome for the user and can detract from the consumer's experience in using a device to obtain media guidance.
Accordingly, mechanisms for determining channel information are desirable.